Canadian astronaut and photographer Dr. Roberta Bondar doesn’t mind doing some kind-of-crazy things in pursuit of wildlife photography. 

That includes hanging out of helicopters to get her desired shot.

“It is not for the faint of heart,” Bondar said, speaking at a Nov. 10 press conference, launching a photography exhibit of her work at Science North.

“Probably if I didn’t have such a keen desire to communicate science in an intriguing way, and try to have art enfolded with it, I probably wouldn’t have taken all those risks. But hey, when you get to be my age, you kind of want to have a few things to brag about. A lot of adventures, every image has a story.”

The 77-year-old Bondar is best known as Canada’s first female astronaut after her 1992 space shuttle flight, but she also has a passion for wildlife photography.

Sudburians are able to see her photography exhibit “Patterns & Parallels: The Great Imperative,” free of charge in Science North’s lobby during business hours until Jan. 7, 2024.

The exhibit combines images from land, air and space (thanks to a partnership with NASA) to tell the story of migratory patterns of the whooping crane, lesser flamingo and piping plover species, which are all threatened or at risk of extinction.

‘It requires a lot of concentration’

Bondar expanded a bit more on the difficulty of taking photos from a helicopter when later questioned by Sudbury.com.

“It requires a lot of concentration, first of all, and a lot of trust between me and the pilot,” he said. “Granted, I was a private pilot, but I never flew helicopters, but I do understand pitch, roll and bank and yaw and all the things that are technically required in order to line a helicopter up to get the best artistic image that I wanted.

“So with a helicopter moving all the time, and being buffeted around, we also don’t want to scare birds. So we have to maintain a certain altitude. So any of the aerial shots are the most difficult ones to take.”

Even photos taken from the ground can be difficult to accomplish. 

“In some of the places in Africa it was 40-degrees centigrade, no air conditioning, we were there for days, nothing cold,” she said. “It was a very, very hot environment to work in to try to get these images of lesser flamingo.”

‘Such a special exhibit’ 

Science North senior scientist Amy Henson fan-girled a bit in introducing Bondar at the press conference, saying meeting her was a “12-year-old girl’s dream of mine,” because she was just 12 when Bondar went to space.

“This is such a special exhibit, and one of the greatest things about it is this perfect merge between science and art,” Henson told Sudbury.com.

“So everybody can appreciate beautiful imagery but the science story that Roberta is telling in this is impeccable — the story of several birds around our planet that are endangered species and the landscapes and the ecosystems that they live in. It’s stunning photography and we’re so excited to be able to host it here at Science North.”

Prior to travelling to Science North, Patterns & Parallels was launched and exhibited in Sault Ste. Marie, Bondar’s hometown. After its stay at Science North, it will then travel to other galleries, museums and science centres across Canada.

The exhibition features large, dramatic colour images taken by Bondar and selected NASA space images, as well as a video installation. 

QR codes at the exhibition create an interactive learning experience, allowing visitors access to digital learning opportunities including animations, audio from Bondar, and additional videos taken in the field.

A staggering three billion birds have disappeared from Canada and the United States since 1970, said press materials. The exhibition is a key part of the Roberta Bondar Foundation’s Space For Birds project, which uses photography as a tool to understand the biodiversity of nature and the impact of human actions and climate change on bird migration and habitat loss.

Exhibit took 10 years to accomplish 

“Now, many of you, in your lifetime may never see the piping plover, but it is the one that you might be able to see around the Great Lakes,” Bondar told those at the Science North press conference.

“There are only 200 of these birds left in the population by the Great Lakes. There’s another population in the Prairies and one in the East Coast. So it’s wonderful to be able to photograph these very, very rare species.”

She said the exhibit took her 10 years to be able to accomplish, and brought her not only to the United States and Canada, but the African countries Tanzania and Kenya. Bondar said she was on her way to Namibia to take photos when COVID-19 hit and she had to come home.

Bondar said she uses a lot of large (and very expensive) digital camera lenses to capture photos.

“I use the highest optical lenses that I can get, and basically the highest resolution sensors,” she said. “So from the helicopter, I’ve been using Hasselblad all digital, and on the ground, Nikon. I’ve now switched to completely mirrorless cameras on Nikon.”

Asked about her bird bucket list, Bondar said she is working on photographing a couple other endangered birds.

“One is called the red knot, and it is a fascinating bird,” she said. “It’s gray-colored in the winter down in the southern parts of the States and into Central America. And then it flies up through Delaware, changes its feathers to bright red,” and eventually migrates up to the Arctic.

“And that’s where it nests, as a lot of migratory birds do, because there are fewer predators,” Bondar said.

‘Our generation hasn’t done very well’ 

Sudbury biologist and Science North “bluecoat emeritus” Franco Mariotti said when he was a young teen and a “wanna-be biologist,” he sent away for a book on endangered species.

There were several thousand species listed in that book, but a United Nations report three years ago “stated that one million species face extinction,” Mariotti said. “Our generation hasn’t done very well to make a better world for this generation.”

He said Bondar’s photography work is important because she passionately articulates “how important and exciting these other living things are.
“Sometimes in the process, she will create wonder and awe about this planet, and that is what fuels restoration,” Mariotti said.

Heidi Ulrichsen is Sudbury.com’s assistant editor. She also covers education and the arts scene.

It took Christopher Payne five years to get into the pencil factory.

Payne, an industrial photographer, is obsessed with processes. How things are made, where they come from, the people who make them. And he knew the General Pencil Company factory in Jersey City was a perfect subject for his work.

“I’ve had a lot of success with everyday objects, like pencils and newspapers, that people take for granted,” Payne said. “It’s always fun to find something that is mundane and make it beautiful.”

And over the five years of talking with the owners to get access to General Pencil, he was learning about the factory’s production schedule, when they run specific colors, all with the aim of capturing the essential process.

General Pencil. Jersey City, New Jersey

General Pencil. Jersey City, New Jersey

“I didn’t just show up,” he said, “I knew the factory and I knew what I wanted.”

Payne’s striking photos of how pencils are made can be found in his new book, Made in America: The Industrial Photography of Christopher Payne, along with dozens of other factories he’s visited to document American manufacturing. His photography is strikingly detailed, beautifully lit, and, most importantly, human. Even in his photos of high-tech microchip production, the people stand out as much as the machines.

Made in America: The Industrial Photography of Christopher Payne

Made in America: The Industrial Photography of Christopher Payne

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“Our iPhones are not entirely made by robots, they’re made by people. You might have an automated process but a lot of the assembly is actually made by hand,” Payne said. “I wish people would feel more respect for people that do this work.”

Payne remembers growing up in a time when every town in America was known for making something. But now, with decades of outsourcing and manufacturing moving overseas “most people don’t know where their goods come from or how they’re made.”

“There’s a disconnect that didn’t exist when every town made something,” he said. “I don’t mean to be nostalgic about it because working in a factory is really hard. Manual labor is hard.”

Stern Pinball Factory. Elk Grove Village, Illinois

Corning Vaccine Vials. Corning, New York

John Deere Davenport Works. Davenport, Iowa

And Payne also has no delusions about the economic struggle of making goods in America. But you can’t help but notice some romanticism in his images. He isn’t offering false promises about a return of American manufacturing. But he is pointing out that we still build great things here and will continue to in the future. And it’s just beautiful to look at.

“I have no delusion that things are going to change,” he said, “but I do hope people will be a little more appreciative of the process. And most of all of manual labor and what it takes to make something.”

S&D Spinning Mill. Millbury, Massachusetts

In the second half of Payne’s book, we get a glimpse of the new direction of American manufacturing. Electric cars, semiconductors, wind turbines—advanced pieces of technology that take skilled workers to build. Payne has visited dozens of these factories for this project, but he finds these modern factories present a distinct challenge. Often the actual manufacturing is done inside enclosed boxes, or sealed off behind glass. In these spaces, like the GlobalFoundries semiconductor factory in Malta, New York, he finds that a more abstract approach can work.

“It’s funny, the most interesting photo I thought I made at GlobalFoundries was not on the manufacturing floor, it was underneath the chip fab looking up at the underside of the floor.” Payne said. “You see all this different stuff, like spaghetti, and you realize how complex the entire operation is.”

Global Foundries Semiconductor Chip Factory. Malta, New York

Whether photographing the Ford F-150 Lightning assembly or a hand-built Steinway piano, Payne’s goal is the same. “I’m always looking for that picture that sums up the essence of the space—what is the most essential operation.”

Ford Renewable Energy Vehicle Center. Dearborn, Michigan

This book isn’t the end of Payne’s obsession with the manufacturing process. In fact, he already has his next industry in mind: fire hydrants.

“A fire hydrant is like a tree,” he said. “What’s underground is much larger than what you can see above ground.”